Give Me The Slayer
by Trinity.94
Summary: The Kurgan - from Highlander - is a badass newcomer in Sunnydale, on a mission to become the only immortal left. Buffy tries to deal with both he and Angelus who makes a bargain to help her. Set post. Passion. Angelus/Buffy
1. Chapter 1

**-Author's note- **If you haven't seen the movie Highlander, I recommend you watch it. I really loved the main enemy in it, The Kurgan, and wanted to see him faced up against Buffy as well as being some sort of competition against Angelus, kind of a device to bring Angelus and Buffy together. It's been a while since I've written, I really appreciate reviews and advice. Hope you enjoy it! **-Author's note-**

She was over the unease that accompanied her patrols in the graveyard these days – the rocky blend of heat, anticipation and the stalking stare that was Angelus made the slayer anxious and restless – her breaths often varied from long, hard intakes of air as the hair stood tall on the back of her neck, to short, rapid ones as she felt her heart speed up at sounds as subtle as snapping twigs .

She was tense, alert.

It'd been two months since her lover reclaimed the form of his demon – malicious and manipulative Angelus, scourge of Europe, comfortable and as far as Buffy knew permanently residing in the clutches of Hell mouth-sanctuary Sunnydale until Buffy and all her friends were dead. As if things could get any worse.

Buffy was constantly trying to avert rising darkness and demons on a day to night basis. A vampire as cunning and unmerciful as Angelus was the last thing she really needed. She thanked whatever powers that be that at least Spike was reduced to a wheelchair, but Drusilla was another story. The wickedly evil vampire was gifted to anticipate the Scooby gang's moves if a new plan to stop Angelus was formed – her darkness was punctuated with an endless torment of insanity – Drusilla was a ticking time bomb of evil as great as Angelus's – perhaps you could say she was just as dangerous. But Buffy had been through all these dangers and fears in her mind over and over – what else was she supposed to think of; what else could possibly be just as important and time consuming as anticipating the next moves of the three very old, very unpredictable vampires such as them. She groaned when it hit her.

Tomorrow's algebra test.

Her sweep of Restfield Cemetery came up short, no new dead guy pushing their way to the surface of a fresh grave. Buffy was thankful, as hard as she tried not to think about it, vampires did mean the death of an innocent, something that only started to really dawn on her after she turned 17 and she lost her boyfriend she loved so shamelessly to her now greatest enemy.  
Giving one last offhanded glance around the foggy landscape, Buffy bent down to pick up her sports bag and leave – the extra baggage she began to take on patrol had become somewhat of a safety blanket – filled with miscellaneous weapons, half a dozen stakes and the trust worthy glass confinement of holy water. She exited through the front gate and as she began her descent back home underneath the chilling glow of an almost full moon, she could hear the faint sound of metal clanking. Whipping her blonde hair to hear where the source of the sound was coming from, she headed south onto Weatherly Drive, slightly picking up her boots.

The noise became more distinct, and eventually she recognised the sound of sword against sword – only two party members, but definitely a serious battle. She hurried to the source of the sound, an alley way that gave home to a local butcher's bins, and as she rounded into said alley she was greeted to the image of a man – a very large man - decapitating the head of his opponent.

Buffy's instincts kicked in, but before she could approach the victor, he stumbled back as if pushed by some unseen force, and a fierce wind picked up pushing Buffy a few steps back herself.

The man was unafraid, but trying to gain his composure, he thrust his arms outwards to reveal the bloody white shirt he was wearing, detailed with numerous holes only a series of bullets would explain.  
A massive sword was being held in his right hand, silver and crafted with spikes at the handle.

The man's eyes were closed and he embraced himself for whatever was next, a storm accompanied the sky with dark clouds, and the windows of the buildings that enclosed the alley way burst, shattering glass and raining it onto the ground below. Buffy was startled by the noise, and covered her ears just as the man bellowed, "There can be only one!"

As he put his hands back together, he held his sword up high and the piercing crack of thunderous lightning connected to the tip of his weapon. The new source of lighting enabled Buffy to see the man's face; pale white skin with dark, sunken eyes – wide lips held together in concentration to whatever force was consuming him, cracked and pale, matching his skin tone. The man's hair was black as night, held back into a low ponytail that rested just at his shoulder blades. His shirt was accompanied with a black leather jacket, worn and detailed with safety pins that appeared to be holding the only remaining sleeve to the shoulder of the jacket. His pants were black too, Buffy couldn't tell if they were leather or not, but they went with his dark, punk attire. He was a sight to be seen, handsome yet unbelievably scary, as if he were plagued by demonic or evil intentions. Buffy hesitated, but once the bizarre environmental power had completely exceeded, she ran to attack. 'Fight now, ask questions later'.

The man was caught off guard as he received the first blow to the face, a punishing kick that made his head whip back, and then just as fast received a hard punch to the torso.

However, before Buffy's left fist could connect with scary-guy's face, he caught it easily in his large palm like a baseball to a mitt and crushed down, breaking a couple of her fingers.

"Hello, pretty," the man said sadistically, it seemed to rumble out of his throat with an eccentric deepness – like rocks in a dump truck.

Buffy's eyebrows furrowed and her mouth slowly opened in pain and surprise at the man's shocking strength, and before she had time to escape his grip with her free arm or legs, the man's other arm punched into her torso throwing Buffy into the brick wall. With the air effectively knocked out of her, the man had her trapped between his body and the wall as he held his hands up against both sides of her head.

"What's a young girl like you roaming the dark streets by herself, attacking men three times their size?"

Buffy swung out her legs in response, to push him away from his dominating entrapment, causing her opponent to stumble back and laugh.

"I see. Guess you're not as weak as you look. What sort of demon might you be, pretty thing?" His smile was amused and confident, similar to Angelus's, she noticed.

"Try Slayer. What the hell are you?"

"Slayer?" The mysterious man asked in surprise. "I haven't encountered a slayer in at least a century."

"So you're a vampire?"

Her opponent laughed, a deep bellowing laugh that could have shaken the ground they were standing on. "Vampire? No, unsure if it'd even be possible. Maybe. But then what would be the point?"

"Enough with the cryptic. I just saw you cut off as guy's head. Who are you?" She kept her guard strong, fists held high.

"You're a bossy thing, aren't you," the man grinned. "I am the Kurgan, and I'm not in the mood to play with a slayer or answer a triage of questions. Get out of my way, or die." The Kurgan looked at the small slayer whose eyes stayed confident and challenging. Buffy flexed her already healed fingers, and reached into her jacket for the dagger she kept in the breast pocket. "So be it." The Kurgan stated.

He lunged first, bringing the sword he had down on her, to which she had quickly dodged, to deliver a solid kick to his back. He fell forward and turned his head to anticipate where her next move was coming from – she liked to kick – and he reached out and grabbed her vulnerable leg, forcefully pulling her down to the ground with him. The Kurgan got up to completely face the blonde, who had already performed a graceful kip-up to get onto her feet. _Feisty,_ he thought, and began to laugh as he peddled back in the alley as she reigned a series of blows towards him, each effectively being blocked. He eventually got the upper hand to counter her attacks, and he threw out his sword just as she jumped back, slicing through her maroon sweater and slashing the fine skin of her stomach. It was her turn to dodge and block his attacks as he began to force her backwards, after more kicks and head punches she found herself once again trapped against the dead end of the alley. The Kurgan laughed at the slayer's misfortune, and thrust the sword towards her face, to which Buffy at the last second avoided and therefore trapped the Kurgan's sword into the stone wall. He grinned and his hand quickly abandoned his sword, grabbing the blonde by the neck and pinning her to the wall.

"You put up a good fight," he growled, for once leaving Buffy a bit shaken. "But I have the rest of my life to kill you. Until we meet again, pretty." He punctuated his words with a trace of his finger down Buffy's face, causing her to suddenly feel strange and hot at the power she felt underneath his touch. He pulled his sword out of the wall, almost effortlessly, and then turned his back and left the slayer in the alleyway, gasping for breath as she held onto her neck.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

"Giles, I'm telling you this guy can't be human – he had bullet wounds all over him, and he came this close to killing me," Buffy explained, holding her index and thumb an inch apart.

"And you say he just walked off, left you there?" Giles enquired, looking through a bookshelf in his typical fashion – using his busy watcher brain to consider a book that would have what he was looking for despite the only few details he had to go off on.

"Yeah he just made a comment about having all the time in the world to live and then he walked off with his sword."

"Vampire?" Giles asked.

"Nada. Said something about it not being possible. Ooh, and he had a big scar along his neck, like someone had tried to cut off his head!"

"Like the other man in the alley?"

"Yeah. Did I mention watching a decapitation isn't my idea of a good night's patrol?"

"At least you didn't run into Angel," Giles assured.

"Angelus," Buffy corrected before she could stop herself. She hated when people thought he was one in the same.

"Sorry," Giles murmured awkwardly, wiping his spectacles at the mention of the demon that had killed Jenny Calendar.

"The last thing I need is a new player, Giles," Buffy sighed, wrapping her hands around her legs on her perched position on the oak library table and staring up at the ceiling. "Would finally like to get some peace and quiet around here."

As if on cue, Willow, Xander and Cordelia took the opportunity to enter the library, happy and buzzing in their usual Scooby style.

"Hey, hey, hey, how's my favourite Buffster!" Xander bellowed, throwing his hands in the air.

"Someone wake up on the right side of the bed this morning?" Buffy asked amused, lifting her eyebrows. Cordelia was rolling her eyes as she set her text books on the table.

"Xander's on a testosterone high for beating me in last week's trig exam," Cordelia filled in, unimpressed.

"All those cos, sins and tans just really had my back this time, Cordy. What happened, new issue of Vogue just come out the night before?"

Cordelia didn't even bother with a come back; sometimes no response was the easiest way to ruin Xander's fun.

"I'm not going to bring up what I got," Willow murmured as she occupied herself into a chair next to Buffy.

"I'm so glad I didn't take trig, ex boyfriend vamps and evil dark alley dunno-what's are my main time consumers these days."

"Dark alley-what's?" Willow asked, looking up at her best friend.

Buffy stretched her legs as she got down from the table. "Newbie in town, really strong. Cutting off heads, you know – the usual evil stuff."

"Oh no," Willow groaned. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Wills. Nothing I can't handle."

"Well sure, Buff," Xander supported. "And you know the two other musketeers have your back."

"Eh-hem," Cordelia coughed. "What about me?"

Giles, Willow, Xander and Buffy all stared at the May Queen, styling similar, estranged looks.

"Well, okay I don't _want_ to help but when you guys are the three musketeers, what do I get to be?"

"Well let's see here…ah-ha! You can be the groupie," Xander encouraged. Buffy and Willow shot each other grossed out looks, and Cordelia looked up to a show a similar expression.

"I gotta go, I just realised I have other things to not care about." Grabbing her things, Cordelia sauntered off leaving Xander to stare at her backside for a few moments until he realised she was leaving. "Cordy wait!"

"So you didn't catch a name for this unknown enemy, Buffy?" Giles continued, effectively blocking out the couple arguing on their way out of his library.

"Ugh, me and names. He said he was the Kroban? Kurben?"

"The Kurgan?" Giles interjected.

"That's the one. You've heard of him?"

"I've seen some mentions in a few texts back at the Watcher's council. I'd have to do some research," Giles affirmed more to himself than to Buffy as he stared into space, concentrating.

"Okay, you're research guy and I'm…"

"Biology girl," Willow finished for her friend, perfectly in time with the bell indicating fifth period.

Buffy groaned. "Things just keep getting worse."

"Night, mom."

"Goodnight, sweetie."

Buffy kissed her mum on the cheek before walking into her bedroom and closing the door. She wasn't waiting any longer to go out and patrol tonight, a familiar pattern was beginning to form within her – a constant feeling of responsibility to Sunnydale's residents to protect them from all sorts of lurking dangers wandering the streets; biting, killing, raising hell – that kind of thing. She couldn't help feeling responsible for Angelus – it was the happiness she gave him that lifted his curse after all – whether she knew it would happen or not, he was her responsibility. Like she didn't have enough already. She pulled on a pair of denim jeans and a light blue tank top, and added a leather jacket over the top despite Sunnydale's blistering California heat; for protection. Lacing up her boots and slipping a stake in both jacket sleeves, she abandoned her bedroom through her window and jumped gracefully off the roof.

She was unsure of what she was hunting for tonight – she'd think about it properly while she swept over Mosaic Cemetery and go where her instincts led her. Angelus was her main priority at the moment, but she'd like to get the new guy out of the way swiftly and quickly, too. She only fought the one vampire in Mosaic, dusted it, and decided on a plan – Willy's. The dingy demon pub was only a few blocks away – but surprisingly not in the bad part of Sunnydale that The Bronze seemed to occupy. In a typical fashion, a couple of demons and vamps left the bar in compliance to the sight of the slayer- ashamed at their personal choice of dismissal yet hardly in the mood for trouble. An unspoken treaty between the slayer and Willy remained however; she kept his business alive – literally – and he tipped her off with sources of information she might need. Hence the nickname he was forever trying to throw off; Willy the Snitch.

"Slayer," Willy greeted. Another vampire sitting at the bar spun off his stool and left. "What can I do for you this evening?"

"Newcomer. The Kurgan. Big sword, big guy. What's the word?" Buffy cut to the chase. It was becoming tradition.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm not gettin' involved in this one," Willy defended, wiping lazily at the bench he stood behind and walking over to the other side of the bar. Buffy followed. "Hear this guy's a psycho. Killed a couple of my regulars for getting in his way, you know? I'm not lookin' to be next on his head huntin' list."

"So he kills all his victims that way? Swift old sword to the neck?"

"From what I hear, yeah. He's good with that sword. But dunno nothin else-"

Buffy wasn't always in the mood to punch the runty bar tender, instead grabbing a vamp sipping from some A positive at the bench. Without even taking the stake out of her sleeve, Buffy used her forearm to push the weapon into the blood sucker's back – exploding him into dust. Willy's emptied faster than bee's from a provoked hive.

"Alright, alright. I heard summen' else the other night. The guy's some kind of immortal – can't be killed, drowned, burnt. That kinda thing. He's lookin' for some kinda prize. Can only get a hold of it when these other immortal characters come off the contestant list. Now that's all I know."

"Thanks," Buffy said solemnly, leaving the small building.

"Geesh," Willy cursed as the petite blonde left, and sighed as he looked around at the empty bar. "Dammit."

"Buff."

The voice stopped her in her tracks. Goosebumps swept over her and her hand holding the stake she had just used in the bar twitched. _So it'd be Angelus tonight, _she thought. "What do you want?"

"You're not the same, baby. Normally you'd be sprinting into my arms, showering me with some love. Something wrong? Is it me?"

Buffy spun around, her expression unamused. "Ever consider being a comedian? You'd be a real laugh."

Angelus chuckled. "I save all my best material for you."

"Is it a fight you're after because my night's just getting started," Buffy dared, pulling her stake high to her shoulder. Adrenalin was quickly setting into her blood, her heart thumping a few seconds faster.

"Easy, Buff, I didn't come here to fight. Just wanted to see how you were, make sure you're not leaving bars with the wrong demon, you know?"

"I don't need this. If you're here to play mind games then go home to your psycho girlfriend, I'll bet she's up for some fun." Buffy spun around to leave. Tonight wasn't her's and Angelus's fight. Not yet.

"I know who you're looking for," Angelus called to her, effectively stopping Buffy in her tracks.

"Why do you care?" The slayer asked suspiciously. "Feeling threatened?"

"Hardly," the vampire snorted, offhandedly inspecting his nails.

"Then what do you know?"

"Now, now. Say 'please'," Angelus smirked.

Buffy rolled her eyes and continued to walk. She'd never beg Angelus. Before she knew what hit her, she was pushed against the wall of a jewellery store that occupied Maple Court, the street she'd been walking on.

"Come on, Buff – no need to be rude. It's not how you play with the other boys and girls."

"Get off me!" She spat, but she was at his full advantage and effectively pinned against the wall with his body; his forearm against her neck and his leg between her thighs. She could smell blood on his breath and it almost made her sick. She'd never smelt blood on Angel before.

"Really, Buffy – don't tell me you didn't miss this. Don't think soul boy ever got this kinky but I can tell you on more than one occasion he was thinking it," Angelus laughed cruelly, pushing his hips into Buffy's.

Energy shot through her at the mention of Angel and she pushed the demon that wore his face off her, She executed a hard punch to his head, followed by a roundhouse kick, and Angelus was already on his knees on the stone footpath.

"Don't ever touch me," Buffy threatened with her stake at the ready.

Angelus laughed and wiped the blood from his lip. "You need me this time, Slayer. None of your friends, none of your books can help you with Victor."

"The Kurgan?" Buffy responded, never lowering her fighting stance.

"Victor Krueger is his real name; The Kurgan is what your little books refer to him as." Angelus rose to his feet and dusted off his leather pants.

"Why are you telling me this?" The blonde Slayer asked, looking him up and down, anticipating any sudden movements.

"He'll come after you," Angelus warned, taking a cautious step forward. "He'll find you, and come into your room in the late hours of the night, and he'll kill you without you even seeing it happen." Another cautious step. "He can't be stopped,"

Left

"Can't be staked,"

Right.

"And slayer-"

Buffy barely registered that Angelus was once again right in front of her, hypnotizing her with his eyes till she was frozen on the spot.

"You're mine."

His eyes shifted into the golden orbs of his demon and his fangs shot through his gums. Like the speed of a cat, he plastered a violent kiss to the slayer's lips and before Buffy had a chance to push him off her a second time, the vampire was already off, his duster flailing in the wind, fog quickly blanketing him till he disappeared.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, pal. In case you can't tell, we're closed here," Willy stated nervously, shifting his eyes from the large man standing at the door of his bar to the glasses he was in the middle of cleaning. Despite Willy's half-hearted dismissal, the immortal waked into the bar as if everything in it belonged to him, including the weaker man behind the counter.

"What do you know about the slayer?" The Kurgan asked with his signature deep rumble, causing Willy's heart rate to speed up along with the scrubbing pace of his hand.

"S-Slayer? The one in Sunnydale? Wouldn't know, man – doesn't come around these parts. Not good for business." A hand was clenched around the snitch's neck before he had a chance to set the glass back down. Instead the object slipped from his grasp and shattered onto the floor.

"I saw the girl walk in here tonight. Tell me what you know." His eye's narrowed, daring Willy to object. Willy was used to his fair share of threats, physical and verbal. This however felt different, a strange darkness lurked underneath the man's hungry eyes – they held a mission; a secret. Something that only he and the world were connected to and nobody else.

"Okay – I'll tell you anything –" Willy spluttered, now a few inches off the ground and his head feeling ready to pop like a kernel.

The Kurgan dropped the weasely man on the ground and grinned. "I'm glad we could come to a negotiation."

"What do you wanna know about her?" Willy managed to cough out as he fought for air in the foul scented bar he gave refuge to demons in. In the short span of time he was in the Kurgan's clutches, his neck already had begun to bruise.

"Anything. Everything." The Kurgan answered.

"Well – well… her name's Buffy. She's ah…she's only young…sixteen? Seventeen? I think. She's tougher than she looks, and she has a group of friends that have her back, y'know…help her fight the bad guys; vampires; demons…immortals. I mean, it's her duty. Chosen one and all." Willy watched for a reaction at the mention of what he believed the man standing before him was. "I mean…if you don't mind me askin'…what are you exactly?"

"Anything else? The Kurgan growled, ignoring the snitch's question.

"Uh – uh yeah. She recently had a…a thing with a vampire. Angelus."

"Angelus?" The Kurgan repeated, eyebrows lifting in surprise. "The Scourge of Europe and the Slayer?"

"Well like I said, not anymore. Angelus got a curse put on him way back when. A hundred or so years ago. A soul. A vampire with a soul, you can imagine, huh?"

"He must have gone crazy with the guilt. Innocent blood all over his hands," The Kurgan said to himself as he stared into space.

"But he's back now. Curse had a little clause, y'know? A moment of happiness – some sappy poetic tragedy type thing."

"Happiness? The Slayer and the vampire…" The Kurgan laughed when it registered.

"Yeah, ." Willy laughed nervously. "Lovers now enemies. That's how the story goes."

"Well, you've been a great help – I really appreciate it," The Kurgan thanked in a patronising tone, patting the man on the shoulder. "It hurts me to have to do this."

"Whoa…wait. Do what?" Willy stuttered. He watched as the Kurgan pulled back his sword, and fled.

***  
"Hey, Buffy. How was patrol last night?" Willow greeted her friend as she found her by her locker, dressed in a red ruffle top and a conservative beige knee-length skirt.

"Ugh, don't you wish we were like normal people sometimes? Like, hey how was last night's episode of Dawson's Creek?"

"Dawson's Creek's season finale was over two months ago," Willow filled in, playing with a loose thread on her fuzzy orange jumper.

"Oh," Buffy replied, eyes widened. "Wow. I really haven't kept up to date with TV. That's so depressing."

"You've had a lot on your mind," Willow reassured, giving a sympathetic glance. "But how was it, did you run into that Kurgan guy?"

"Nah – got a neat ol' visit from Angelus though. And YES, I'm okay," Buffy insisted as soon as she saw her friend's hand raise to offer her concern.

"What happened?" The red head questioned instead.

"I dunno. I mean, it was weird. We didn't fight. It was like he was…helping me."

"Helping you?"

"Yeah. I dunno, tipping me off about the new guy. Like he was on my side of something."

"Trap?"

"Could be. So I didn't take it any further. Just walked away."

"Well, as you know I'm not 'team Angelus'. But be open minded, if he knows something it might help you defeat this guy."

"Working with Angelus? Please, Will. Pigs will fly before I see that happening."

_What am I doing here?_

It was almost 2:00 a.m. and this time the full moon was fully out, bathing its silver glow over the small blonde Slayer as she stood in front of the mansion; the chilling two story building that occupied Crawford Street – a basis for ghost stories that spread through Sunnydale's younger residents like sugar bombs – stories that even the most daring knew better than to confront. Maybe Sunnydale wasn't as ignorant as it seemed and deep down in their subconscious people knew something wasn't right here, and the mansion was one stepping stone to the truth they weren't quite ready to face. Buffy knew for a fact she never caught anyone dead in the cemeteries she scouted – anyone that wasn't dead already, that is. In fact, it was rare to catch anyone around the creepier perimeters of Sunnydale past 11:00 p.m.

_No, I don't think people are as dumb as I give them credit for. _Buffy thought. _But why is there always a new vamp on the receiving end of my stake?_

Buffy shook herself as she realised she was once again caught in the binding net of her thoughts.

_Time to do this._

It had been three nights since any Kurgan – or Angelus – confrontation. She had swept the area that Willy's bar engaged again onto to find it was strangely deserted – Buffy couldn't remember a time she saw Willy's was closed. That alone was abnormal; more abnormal than regular occurrences Sunnydale offered – so finding Angelus was quickly appearing to be her last resort, if he knew anything that could be useful. The Slayer had already found the headless corpses of at least three demons, along with additional slashes to their flesh and dismemberments to their limbs. It was becoming more obvious that the new player didn't just enjoy a good fight – he basically looked for one, and Buffy needed to know why. Not that she was opposed to someone doing her work for her, however these demons appeared to be, well, harmless, and hadn't come up on the Scooby radar thus far. Buffy knew it was a matter of time before the human bodies started piling up, she'd already seen snippets of news that entailed the murders of a couple of prostitutes killed due to strange circumstances – unsure if there was a relation, the Slayer wasn't prepared to risk it.

She willed her feet to start moving as she headed towards the mansion's front entrance, only to be stopped by an all too familiar conniving chuckle.

"I was wondering when you'd finally cave. 3 days, Buff. Wow. Didn't expect you to be that eager."

Buffy hated that she was caught off guard. She had a visual plan in her head that involved her breaking the door down and taking a bit of charge, regardless of Angelus's intolerance at being demanded for answers. She didn't enjoy the fact that her moves were anticipated.

"Let me guess…Drusilla saw me coming? Buffy asked, folding her arms across her chest, trying to uphold her dignity upon seeking Angelus for help.

"Dru didn't see anything other than her usual astrology. She went on about the stars crossing over to one another, but you can only pay so much attention to her insane ramblings." Angelus stepped away from the wall he had been leaning against, revealing himself from the curtain of night - a frighteningly close five or so feet from the Slayer. His voice had been so low; she assumed he was a safe distance away.

"No, my love. I saw you coming before you had even left your bedroom."

Buffy stepped back and her heart skipped due to her lack of precaution.

_Angelus is an unpredictable monster, _she subconsciously reminded herself for the hundredth time. _Don't let him get close._

"Then you know why I'm here. And I can assure you, I wouldn't be if I had a choice."

"Oh, but you do," Angelus interjected; playing the mind games he so loved to inflict upon the Slayer. _His _slayer. "You didn't have to come here tonight. You could have stayed out a bit longer, hunted a bit better. You could have found him, fought him. You could have made it home before dawn and crept into bed – washed your bloodied body and mom would have been none the wiser. You could have done it, you just didn't want to."

"Then why did you confront me? Warn me about The Kurgan?" Buffy demanded, her voice nearly shaking with anger at his accusation.

Angelus laughed and once again it brought her back to the moment in his apartment, the day after they had made love.

"_It's not like I've never been there before." - _

"I just wanted to see how gullible you could be."

Buffy was fuming. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to beat him senseless or regain her composure – walk away with the dignity she had been busy fighting to keep before. Deciding that she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her emotions and telling herself she was only wasting her time being there, Buffy turned to leave and eventually fell into a fast and determined run; to find the thing that Angelus accused her of not being able to fight herself.

She barely missed the blade that swung at her head.


End file.
